Mark Malloch Brown

Mark Malloch Brown "has served as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations since April, 2006. Before his current appointment, he was the Secretary-General’s Chef de Cabinet since January 2005. In that position, he worked closely with the Secretary-General and the Deputy-Secretary General on all aspects of UN work, including helping to set out an ambitious reform agenda for the United Nations, much of which was endorsed by world leaders at the World Summit in New York last September.

"Prior to becoming Chef de Cabinet, Mr. Malloch Brown served as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN's global development network, from July 1999 to August 2005. During that time, he was also the Chair of the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of the heads of all UN funds, programmes and departments working on development issues.

"During his tenure at the UNDP, Mr. Malloch Brown oversaw a comprehensive reform effort that was widely recognized as making the UNDP more focused, efficient and effective across the 166 countries where it works and doubled its annual resources to over $4 billion. His efforts included a major push to expand UN support to developing countries in areas such as democratic governance, a new advocacy dimension as reflected in pioneering publications, including the Arab Human Development Reports, and strengthened UNDP operational leadership in natural disasters and post-conflict situations.

"At the request of Secretary-General Annan, Mr. Malloch Brown also led the UN system’s efforts to help support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals -- eight, time-bound development targets with the overarching goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015 -- which were approved by world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit of September 2000.

"Prior to his appointment with the UNDP, Mark Malloch Brown served at the World Bank as Vice-President for External Affairs, and Vice-President for United Nations Affairs from 1996 to 1999. He joined the World Bank as Director of External Affairs in 1994. He is credited with having helped the Bank enhance its outreach and expand its partnership with the United Nations and non-governmental organizations. In 1997, he chaired the United Nations Secretary-General's task force on the reform of United Nations communications.

"Before joining the World Bank, Mr. Malloch Brown was the lead international partner from 1986 to 1994 in a strategic communications management firm, the Sawyer-Miller Group, where he worked with corporations and governments. He advised Corazon Aquino of the Philippines when she ran against Ferdinand Marcos, as well as other presidential and political candidates, particularly in Latin America.

"Mr. Malloch Brown founded The Economist Development Report, a monthly report on the aid community and the political economy for development. He served as the Report's editor from 1983 to 1986. Previously, from 1977 to 1979, he had been the political correspondent of The Economist.

"From 1979 to 1983, he worked for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). From 1979 to 1981, he was stationed in Thailand, where he was in charge of field operations for Cambodian refugees. He was appointed Deputy Chief of UNHCR's Emergency Unit in Geneva, undertaking extensive missions in the Horn of Africa and Central America. In 1981, the UNHCR and its staff were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Active in human rights and refugee issues, he formerly served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Refugees International in Washington, D.C., and has served on the advisory boards of a number of non-profit organizations. Mr. Malloch Brown was included in Time Magazine’s world’s 100 most influential people in 2005.

"A British citizen, Mr. Malloch Brown received a First Class Honour’s Degree in History from Magdalene College, Cambridge University, and a Master's Degree in Political Science from the University of Michigan, and is the recipient of a number of honorary degrees and awards. Aged 52, he is married with four children."

In an article in the Wall Street Journal in May 2007, it was noted that: "Mr. Malloch Brown, remember, was until last year Kofi Annan's deputy at the United Nations. In that position, he distinguished himself by spinning away the $100 billion Oil for Food scandal as little more than a blip in the U.N.'s good work, and one that had little to do with Mr. Annan himself. Last week, Mr. Malloch Brown was named vice president of the Quantum Fund, the hedge fund run by his billionaire friend George Soros."


 * Network Member, Global Business Network

Mark Malloch Brown is married to Trish Malloch Brown.

Critical Assessment
Perry Anderson criticizes the way the United Nations was manipulated by the US. One of the operatives in the manipulation is Malloch Brown. Anderson writes:
 * During his second mandate, floundering in the Oil for Food crisis, Annan was summoned by Richard Holbrooke to his residence on the Upper West Side for a secret meeting, attended by Orr, Ruggie and Mousavizadeh, and three other Democratic insiders. There Annan was enjoined to fire unwanted colleagues, and accept a more competent minder, in the shape of Mark Malloch Brown, a former journalist for the Economist whose main claim to fame was to have been campaign manager for Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, a Bolivian ruler so hated by the population for his neoliberal zeal and subservience to Washington that he had recently had to flee the presidential palace by helicopter, and make for Miami. Without a murmur, Annan accepted him as the power in front of the throne. Holbrooke was pained that news of the arrangement leaked out. ‘The intention was to keep it confidential. No one wanted to give the impression of a group of outsiders, all of them Americans, dictating what to do to a secretary-general.’ Impressions, apparently, are everything.

Affiliations

 * Founder, International Crisis Group
 * Former Director, Center for Global Development
 * Advisory Board, Global Public Policy Institute
 * Director, NetAid
 * International Advisor, OneWorld International

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Nader Mousavizadeh
 * Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
 * Robert C. Orr
 * John Ruggie